A company director from Yorkshire and a property developer from Surrey are
among the ordinary Britons set to enjoy Sir Richard Branson's astro-tourism,
reports Philip Sherwell in New Mexico

They are the Britons who are preparing to boldly go where no tourist has gone before - and now they have all had their first sight of the VSS Enterprise, the spaceship that will take them there.

This was not Star Trek, but the launch pad for the world's first venture taking fare-paying passengers on a joyride into space.

Among the 15 future British space travellers who had travelled to a remote corner of the New Mexico desert in America were a former Olympic canoeist, a professional astronomer, a businessman and his yoga-teacher girlfriend.

All are stumping up $200,000 (£125,500) for the opportunity to be among the world's first space tourists, when Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic company begins taking travellers outside the earth's atmosphere late next year.

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After the inaugural flight - on which Sir Richard intends to take his two adult children plus three other guests - some 460 people from almost 50 countries are queuing up to glimpse the world seen from space, 70 of them from Britain.

"I was always fascinated with everything about space, from exploring the universe to looking for aliens," said Craig Burkenshaw, 41, a travel company director from Doncaster. "But until this opportunity came along, I had accepted that there was no way I'd have a chance to go into space in my lifetime. I had written off that dream."

Some 150 signed-up would-be passengers witnessed the unveiling of the first purpose-built commercial spaceport last week - a futuristic vision of glass and steel rising out of the scrub.

The celebration marked the start of the final countdown to civilian space travel, and many passengers also had their first glimpse of the spacecraft that will carry them 70 miles above Earth.

"It seems a bit surreal to be here in the desert and realise this is really going to happen," said Ronan McCarthy, 42, a property developer from Richmond, Surrey.

"I've got an adventurous streak, but I don't even like turbulence that much, so I do sometimes wonder what I'm doing hurtling into space."

In a series of swooping fly-bys, Dave Mackay, the British chief test pilot, steered the "mother vessel" - a giant plane with the VSS Enterprise attached beneath - over the Lord Foster-designed edifice, a jaw-dropping sight for those watching.

To make a spaceflight the Enterprise will detach itself, high in the atmosphere, and fire its own rocket to launch itself beyond, into brief sub-orbit.

For Jon Goodwin, a retired businessman from Newcastle-under-Lyme, it was a magical sight. "That was the moment it really sunk in - that I will be going into space in the near future," he said.

The 68-year-old has canoed, cycled and motor-rallied his way across some of the remotest spots on Earth, from the Atacama Desert in Chile to the Himalayas, since selling his family's wholesale confectionary and tobacco business 13 years ago. He paid his $200,000 up front in 2005.

"I am an adventurer and this is the greatest adventure," said Mr Goodwin, a former Olympic canoeist. "I am as fascinated by speed as space. I own 10 Ferraris and they can do zero to 60 in five or six seconds. So the idea of travelling at 2,500mph just blows my mind."

Nigel Henbest, 60, from Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, who studied at Cambridge under the Astronomer General, has written 37 books about the universe, shared the elation. "This was quite simply one of the most fantastic days of my life," he said, still beaming several hours later. "I have just visited the world's first commercial spaceport and seen the spaceship and it really brought home that I will be going into space soon. The beauty and simplicity of the scene was overwhelming."

Mr Burkenshaw said he had harboured the same dream since he watched the first Shuttle launches as a schoolboy. "I think that soon people will be going into space for $50,000, which really is like buying a new car." His girlfriend, Joanne Le Bon, 37, a yoga teacher, sceptical at first, has now caught the buzz and signed up too.

For now, the spaceship is being put through its paces at a former US air force base in California's Mohave Desert. A major test of the rocket is set for early December and the first trial flights into space are expected to begin early next year.

Sir Richard hopes to take his daughter Holly and son Sam on the inaugural flight – with a few minutes of weightlessness at its peak - before the first intrepid tourists follow.

"We owe the next step in man's exploration of space to the passion of these pioneers," the Virgin chief said as he gave an impromptu tour of the spaceport's interior. From the entrance, he led The Sunday Telegraph across an elevated corridor, with glimpses down into a cavernous hangar that will house the spaceships, and into the astronaut lounge where giant curved windows offer spectacular view across the 10,000ft runway and the distant San Andres mountains.

"The building is out of this world, which is of course what it's meant to be," he said.

The showman had earlier abseiled down the façade with Holly and Sam, smashing a bottle of champagne against the glass and naming it the Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space. Among the cheering guests were Princess Beatrice, whose boyfriend Dave Clark works for Virgin Galactic, and Kate Winslet, whose new boyfriend is Ned Rocknroll, Sir Richard's nephew and another employee of the business who changed his name by deed poll from Smith.

Several celebrities have put their money down to fly. Comedian Russell Brand, Dallas star Victoria Principal, film director Bryan Singer, designer Philippe Starck, scientist Professor Stephen Hawking, property developers the Candy brothers, and PayPal founder Elon Musk are all reported to be among the passenger list.

"My approach to life is to dream and set seemingly impossible challenges and then try and surround myself with people who make them become reality," said Sir Richard. "In 20 years' time, I hope that people will be at the stage where they are thinking: 'Shall we go into space or go the Caribbean for our holidays?'"

But at least one Branson is unconvinced by the lure of space – his wife Joan. Sam and Holly said that their mother was nervous about seeing her husband and two children all take the first trip together.

"Of course, she's right to have concerns about safety," said Sir Richard. "I have concerns about safety. That's why we're only going to fly when we are absolutely sure it's safe."